Karthik Bappanad

Not an intellectual, not an idiot. Technology | Policy | Spirituality. Tweets are personal views; RTs are not endorsements

[TheSignOfFive @TheSignOfFive]

The lowest hanging fruit for the GoI was to clean up street level governance and fix northern India’s AQI.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@YusufDFI The winner is now announced. He wanted to remind that he tried 😀

[PIB India @PIB_India]

▶️ QNu Labs, in collaboration with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo‑informatics (BISAG‑N) and IIT Gandhinagar, has successfully demonstrated India’s first free‑space Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link at a scale of 5.56 km

▶️ The field trial, conducted on the night of September 27–28, established a secure quantum communication channel between BISAG‑N and IIT Gandhinagar

▶️ Using QNu Labs’ Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking system, the trial achieved a stable Quantum Bit Error Rate below 5% and generated secure keys at a rate of 230–260 bps

▶️ The trial provides a foundation for advancing India’s capabilities in secure communication infrastructure, strengthening resilience against emerging quantum‑era security threats

Read here for detailed information: https://t.co/3Tzguyjfxw

@GoI_MeitY

[V. Anand | வெ. ஆனந்த் @iam_anandv]

If you had never run a biz, and only ever worked as an officer of the state with a salary, officer shahi is the default path for the bureaucracy.

This is one reason why means to insert outsiders to public service is important.

[V. Anand | வெ. ஆனந்த் @iam_anandv]

A bone that I always pick on whoever is saying India has an industrial policy is that it does not have one.

It is a collection of subsidies and schemes with generous mixture of crony capitalism.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@izakaminska Any productivity improvement - whether it be AI today or computers in the last two decades - gets negated by the suction of entertainment.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@philvenables I recently wrote about the same https://t.co/X1ENpYTIAl

[Arnab Ray @greatbong]

Unable to counter the facts (cause he cannot), let’s bring up a fictional “racist” story.

The fact doesn’t change that China today is a crony capitalist authoritarian state that has implemented surveillance even the Stasi was not able to do.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@vired999 @greatbong Also the eastern european countries are bad examples, for two reasons.
1. They were still upper middle-income economies when they shed communism.
2. They progressed in no small measure due to the embrace of the "developed" western european new friends.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@vired999 @greatbong Whilst there are authoritarian countries that did not become rich, there are several that did - SE Asian countries, South Korea, etc. But, there is no track record in history of a democratic country that progressed from poor to rich (except for exceptional case of Botswana).

[TCA Sharad Raghavan @SharadRaghavan]

How has #MakeinIndia fared in the 12 years since it was launched? A look at 12 metrics spanning growth, investment, employment, and exports shows that the performance has been low and patchy.

A short thread capturing the 12 metrics 👇

1/11

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@YusufDFI Blaming it on AI is the new "dog ate my homework".

[c0c0n2026 @_c0c0n_]

We’re thrilled to welcome @karthikrb, Cybersecurity Consultant, to the speaker lineup at c0c0n 2026!

With 25+ years of industry experience, including over a decade in cybersecurity, Karthik brings a unique perspective shaped by years of work across cybersecurity strategy, regulatory compliance, technology, public policy, and ethics.

A CISSP, Chevening Fellow, and Fellow of the Takshashila Institution’s Law Enforcement and Policing Fellowship, Karthik has contributed to cybersecurity research and strategic advisory initiatives in India and internationally.

His work spans engagements with organisations and forums including the Data Security Council of India, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Naval War College, and the National Cyber Security Agency of Thailand, among others.

For c0c0n 2026, Karthik will present insights based on his award-winning research paper from the Takshashila Institution’s Law Enforcement and Policing Fellowship — bringing together perspectives on cybersecurity, technology, policy, and law enforcement.

Stay tuned for more speaker announcements!

#c0c0n2026 #c0c0n #CyberSecurity #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #CyberCrime #Security #Technology #Privacy #InfosecCommunity #Kerala #CybersecurityConference #kochi

[Yusuf Unjhawala 🇮🇳 @YusufDFI]

Some were saying Makkah pact’s target was Israel.

[ashokkantha @ashokkkantha]

China’s outreach in India has grown more nimble, moving past old comfort zone of ‘fellow travellers.’ Diplomats n young scholars argue on X (banned in China), write op-eds in Indian papers, n work social media. Still it barely moves the needle. My piece in today’s Sunday Times

[Bangalore Mirror @BangaloreMirror]

Abnormal levels of radioactive gas radon detected at 5 locations in Dasarahalli, Taverekere, Harohalli and Gandhi Nagar

https://t.co/CAK1ycmDff

[Commentary - Sowell Economics @sowelleconomics]

Thomas Sowell was 20. Marx explained the world because no other theory was taught.

One summer inside the Labor Department ended that.

His assignment: the minimum wage in Puerto Rico.

Every hike, employment fell.

Unions blamed hurricanes that wrecked the sugarcane.

He asked for the one fact that would settle it — how much cane was standing before the storms.

The room froze. That law funded a third of the Department’s budget.

He wanted to know if the poor were helped. They wanted to keep the program.

[Dr Y Nithiyanandam @prof_nithiya]

What Likely Happened on 26 August: A Terrain-Based Assessment.

The disaster originated on the Nepal side, on the north face of Langtang Lirung inside Langtang National Park.

Satellite imagery suggests this was not simply a glacier calving event but a large bedrock slope failure that carried part of the overlying glacier with it.

The collapse, at roughly 5,100–5,200 m elevation, generated the seismic signal initially mistaken for an earthquake. The resulting ice-rock avalanche entered the Lhende Khola valley, close to the Nepal–Tibet boundary.

This 3D terrain walkthrough with voice-over, using January 2026 imagery, shows the likely impact pathway:

Slope failure → ice-rock debris enters the valley → possible temporary river blockage → water accumulates → blockage fails → sudden flood surge downstream.

Note: The yellow line in the 3D walkthrough is the boundary line between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

The surge then travelled through the narrow valley, striking the Gyirong border checkpoint on the Chinese side, damaging major structures, before continuing downstream and affecting hydropower infrastructure and settlements on the Nepal side.

@TakshashilaInst Image credits: Google Earth.
#NepalFloods #Nepal #Rasuwa #BhoteKoshi #Bhotekoshi #FlashFlood

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

@teasri The schools will come up provided the govt improves the infra and connectivity. In Bluru, most of the premium fee shools are in the outskirts anways.

[Karthik Bappanad @karthikrb]

In terms of impact, would donating to pvt HEIs like @NayantaUni instead of donating to govt institutes-even of the profiles of IITs-be better off? These have the hunger, and the flexibility to spend effectively. We have seen how donations to govt schools are money down the drain.

[Parimal @Fintech03]

The IITs are finally getting what they built the world and forgot to bill for.

For 40 years, Indian engineering brilliance built Silicon Valley, then wrote the checks to Stanford and Harvard. Look at what just happened at home instead:

> IIT Kanpur (Aug 24, 2026) - Rakesh Gangwal, IndiGo co-founder, adds ₹300 crore more to the medical school he started building in 2022. Total now: ₹400 crore. He is also matching every other donor's rupee, up to ₹300 crore more.

> IIT Delhi (Dec 2025) - Binny Bansal's gift is the largest unrestricted individual donation the institute has ever received. They named the Exhibition Hall after him.

> IIT Bombay (Dec 2025) - The Class of 2000 walks back in for their silver jubilee and pledges ₹50 crore on the spot. Same week, five alumni get Distinguished Service Awards for decades of quiet giving.

> IIT Bombay (April 2025) - The founders of BrowserStack rebuild the exact hostel they lived in as students. ₹100 crore, one specific hostel, one very personal debt repaid.

> IIT Kharagpur (2025) - The Deysarkar family does not write a check, they hand over an entire property in Houston, worth $10 million, to anchor India-US research in AI and healthcare.

> IIT Madras (Aug 2024) - Krishna Chivukula, class of 1970, gives ₹228 crore. 54 years after graduating, he came back and rewrote the record book.

> Additionally, IIT Kanpur Class of 2000 pledged a record ₹100 crore (largest single-batch pledge claimed at the time) for a new Millennium School of Technology and Society. Led in part by Naveen Tewari (InMobi) and other founders.

> IIT Delhi Class of 2000 (late 2025/early 2026) pedged ₹70+ crore (highest batch gift in IIT Delhi’s history at the time).

> Nandan Nilekani’s cumulative giving to IIT Bombay has reached the ₹400 crore range (major tranche reported around 2023).

These are infra grade capital, hostels, hospitals, endowments, international outreach flowing back into the exact institutions that launched these people into the world.

The IITs spent decades exporting genius. The genius is finally sending some of it home.